WSJ: Kodak Prepping for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Filing
These are tough times and Kodak is struggling to keep its head above water.
Camera company Eastman Kodak is apparently preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The Wall Street Journal reports that if the company fails in its efforts to sell off a 'trove of digital patents' it will file for Chapter 11 in the coming weeks.
According the WSJ sources, Kodak is currently negotiating with potential lenders for roughly $1 billion debtor-in possession financing that would keep it afloat during bankruptcy proceedings. The filing itself could happen as soon as this month or early next month.
Though Kodak has refused to comment on the report (stating that it doesn't comment on rumors or speculation), the company's shares have taken a nosedive following the news, falling more than 28 percent to 46 cents.
This is the second blow for Eastman Kodak this year. Earlier this week, the company was warned that it would be delisted from the NYSE if its price-per-share remains below the minimum price-per-share requirement of $1 for the next six months. According to Bloomberg, this means Kodak's stock must have a closing price of at least $1/share on the last trading day of any calendar month during the six-month period. Additionally, the company must maintain that average over the previous 30 trading days or on the last day of the six months. The company was put on notice following 30 consecutive days below the minimum price-per-share requirement.
Eastman Kodak was founded by George Eastman in 1892 in Rochester, New York. Eastman is credited with bringing photography to the masses through the use of roll film. In 1975, a Kodak engineer by the name of Steven Sasson invented the digital camera.
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how the mighty have fallen...
Sad. You know people look down on Kodak digital cameras, but their point and shoots have always held up a lot better for me. I still have a Kodak that I took to the North Slope of Alaska where I worked all winter, and it still works. In the meant time I purchased a Pentax camera of Adventure (supposedly shock proof) which broke in my pocket after owning it a week (piece of junk). Anyway, I guess what I am saying is that Kodak cameras may not have all the bells and whistles of some more expensive cameras but in my experience they hold up a hell of a lot better. So buy a Kodak while ya still can is my advice.
mama don't take my Kodachrome away
Their consumer digital cameras have been a joke for awhile now and their software they provide with the products they sell is atrocious. I know they make great motion picture stuff and will probably continue to do so. I have been waiting for Kodak to make something awesome for years but haven't seen anything save the handheld Kodak z series pocket cams which were pretty good. Sad though but I'm not surprised.
LOL, southernshark.
Maybe Kodak is OK when compared to trash like Pentax.... but they can't beat Canon, Nikon, or Sony, in ANYTHING. And it's been that way for over a decade.
this is what happens when old companies ran by dolts don't innovate. kodak got where it was by making something simple for everyone that worked the way it should. if only the had continued on that path...
LOL, southernshark.Maybe Kodak is OK when compared to trash like Pentax.... but they can't beat Canon, Nikon, or Sony, in ANYTHING. And it's been that way for over a decade.
Wow an LOL dude doesn't value my opinion. I'm devastated. You try taking your camera to the North Slope and go LOL.
Instead of selling those patents, they should get a cue from Apple and start trolling them around, suing everybody. Oh, wait, they might have more class than that.
It's a shame that a pioneer has to bite the dust like this.
Sad. You know people look down on Kodak digital cameras, but their point and shoots have always held up a lot better for me. I still have a Kodak that I took to the North Slope of Alaska where I worked all winter, and it still works. In the meant time I purchased a Pentax camera of Adventure (supposedly shock proof) which broke in my pocket after owning it a week (piece of junk). Anyway, I guess what I am saying is that Kodak cameras may not have all the bells and whistles of some more expensive cameras but in my experience they hold up a hell of a lot better. So buy a Kodak while ya still can is my advice.
if you really think that Kodak made good cameras you really don't know anything about quality....take a look at some Cannon and Sony products....then rethink your statement
A pity. As others have said, their cameras were actually pretty good, but were totally ruined by unnecessary software that held your images hostage, bloated your PC and stuck annoying Kodak icons and shortcuts everywhere.
I still have a brilliant 10m point'n'shoot which I'll be loath to get rid of. Cell phones and the shitty cameras the majority have are probably what contributed most to Kodak's downfall.
LOL, southernshark.Maybe Kodak is OK when compared to trash like Pentax.... but they can't beat Canon, Nikon, or Sony, in ANYTHING. And it's been that way for over a decade.
I used 2 Sony's over the past five years, and I have to say almost anything could be better than them in the video taking department. They're constantly out of focus, to the point where it's better that I have a WebCam to take video that use that camera.
this is what happens when old companies ran by dolts don't innovate. kodak got where it was by making something simple for everyone that worked the way it should. if only the had continued on that path...
not really. They stuck with so longer than most other companies for reason, it was cheaper, and took a far better quality picture for a long time when compared to a digital camera. I can't exactly remember when consumer grade digital cameras got better at taking pictures than the film equivalent, but I do remember that Kodak stuck with film a bit too long, and at the very least their initial cameras were subpar. I don't know how good they stack up right now, but if it's any better than Sony's atrocious cyber shot line, and uses a standard SD card format, I don't see why Kodak would have such trouble.
A pity. As others have said, their cameras were actually pretty good, but were totally ruined by unnecessary software that held your images hostage, bloated your PC and stuck annoying Kodak icons and shortcuts everywhere.I still have a brilliant 10m point'n'shoot which I'll be loath to get rid of. Cell phones and the shitty cameras the majority have are probably what contributed most to Kodak's downfall.
please don't call cell phone cameras cameras. They're barely better than WebCam from 10 years ago. I'm not talking about the high-end cell phones today I'm talking about the lesser phones everyone gives their kids, or buys for themselves because they don't be a smart phone.
If you read George Eastman's biography, he "invented" many things by going to competitors, seeing what they were working on, then beat them to patenting them. You could argue that this is the nature of business, however, I think it is tantamount to stealing, and, IMHO, this is karma catching up to Kodak. When I worked for Kodak 10 years ago, there was a "don't invent it here" attitude that may have had its roots in Eastman's "inventive genius."
It is too bad, IMHO, they are not doing well; however, knowing a bit about the company, I know that they sold off several of their most profitable divisions. In my opinion, it is no wonder they are not doing well after having sold off those divisions.
Queen was right : "another one bites the dust..."
even Panasonic has made great strides with their line of cameras. Take a look at their Lumix LX5. It's a already a legend.
RIM is the next one to fall. Big ego's with crappy products.
Guess they spend too much on having Pitbull, Nayer, Ne-Yo and Afrojack mention "Kodak" twice in the first few seconds of thier song "Give me Everything".
"Me not working hard?
Yea right picture that with a kodak
And better yet, go to times square
Take a picture of me with a kodak"
REALLY!!?
Dumb, those lyrics are in the song for nothing more than advertising. It has nothing to do with the song.
Shameful to see another great US company ruined by incompetent executive management THAT REFUSED TO LISTEN TO THE RANK AND FILE MANAGEMENT THAT KNEW WHAT NEEDED TO BE DONE YEARS AGO!
In 1975, a Kodak engineer by the name of Steven Sasson invented the digital camera.
What in the HELL were the executives at Kodak thinking!!!????
Completely incompetent !!!! Shameful!!!
I've almost bought a kodak camera twice now... but deal breaker for me was their prioritary cable.. whay not put a standard usb oport on there instead of a wonky one of cable that I have to have a free spot on my motherboard for also involving getting behind my desk to reach... forget that. my wife does have a kodak and aside from the annoying cabel the bloatware... err sorry "drivers and included software" are crap, I ended up just getting a sd card reader and she takes the memory stick out of her camera to get off her pictures.. and she got a new better cannon (also cost less than her kodak did ) for christmas
if you really think that Kodak made good cameras you really don't know anything about quality....take a look at some Cannon and Sony products....then rethink your statement
I miss my first digital camera Kodak DC280. At that time, it has one of the best picture quality in all point and shot DCs. The color of the pictures from DC280 were much better than my 2nd point and shot DC from Epson (PhotoPc 850). Sadly, Kodak did not keep up with other companies.
I miss my first digital camera Kodak DC280. At that time, it has one of the best picture quality in all point and shot DCs. The color of the pictures from DC280 were much better than my 2nd point and shot DC from Epson (PhotoPc 850). Sadly, Kodak did not keep up with other companies.
back then when they first came out we did not know how to judge quality since digital cameras were very new for all of us...so what was good quality back then it's crap now
Good cameras... idiotic and problematic software...
I don't understand the Kodak Digital camera bashing myself... I recently compared picture quality canon to kodak and kodak won. I noticed pictures from kodak digital camera were crystal clear and crisp. The canon photos always seem grainy and out of focus... People always praise canon but sometime the majority are not always right.....